Unexpected Attraction
by Mikkelsenlove
Summary: It's interesting how much people end up meaning to you. Strangers you meet one day become your best friends, your enemies or something more
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Just a couple of quick things. I have not written anything in years so I'm sorry in advance. I'm a little rusty. I'm also going off the movie version of The Outsiders. I just watched the movie a couple nights ago and I still love it as much as I did before. I'm not sure how long this story is going to be. It all really depends on if the readers like the story. This is something that's been in my head for months now so I do have some plans for it. I'm going to try to upload once a week at the very least every other week. But I work all the damn time and sometimes I'm just too tired.**

 **Dally might be a little OOC in this story. Not too much I hope. But I do want to explore a kind of softer side of him. And that's not even the right word but its the best I've got. The rest of the gang will make appearances.**

 **That's pretty much it for now. Thanks for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders or it's characters**

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Dallas Winston was not someone who was loved. At least that's what she'd always heard from the people around her. All she knew about him came from her friends. He was a greaser with a short fuse and quite the record. Greaser boys feared him while greaser girls wanted him. Although that fit the description of almost every greaser she heard about. She'd come to realize that the people weren't very creative with their gossip. When there was something to talk about, she usually heard the same piece of information from multiple people. However the first time she laid her eyes on Dallas Winston, she knew that the rumors about him in his case were all true.

The first day Daisy saw him she was at the Dingo with her friends getting food like they usually did after school. It became a ritual in a way. They talked and joked right after school while enjoying their meal before making their way to one of their houses to complete their homework together. The routine worked well for her, it kept her on track because without her friends Daisy knew she wouldn't do he school work. She preferred to do almost anything else. The place was always jam packed with Greasers, Soc's and everyone in between. The food at the Dingo was some of the best and it was always the neutral hang out spot for the people around the neighborhoods.

Daisy and her three friends were all crammed into one of the booths inside the diner. Most of the tables and chairs in the place were taken; nothing new. Daisy was sitting on the outer edge of the both while her friend Anna sat next to her. When they got there they had a slight argument about who was going to get to sit near the window, Daisy lost as she usually did to her stubborn friend. Her other friends were sitting across of her. Their booth was located in the center of the row of other tables on their side. Her seat faced the wall towards the back of the diner as her friends were facing the opposite side where they could see the door. Nearly all of their food stayed on their trays untouched while they all took turns telling their own story's of the school day.

Anna was in the middle of her story when the bell above the entrance gave a familiar ding. Although the noise didn't settle down and Daisy couldn't see who entered, she could see her friends faces and they changed almost instantly. They went from smiling to more of a frown mixed with curiosity. She looked over at Anna who seemed equally as confused. Though neither of them had to wonder who it was that caused these faces for long. Not soon after they heard the door slam shut was Daisy able to feel that someone was behind her. From the corner of her eye she could see the figure of a man coming up beside her. Curiosity seemed to get the best of her as she tilted her head up to get a better look of the person. She was more than a little surprised to recognize Dallas Winston. Even if she was going off the descriptions given to her by some of her classmates ; she knew who he was as soon as she saw the side of his face. If not for his looks then for the vibe he gave off. Dangerous, unpredictable, probably reckless. Daisy could feel the anger radiating off of him in waves. That alone could keep people away from him. Lord knew she wanted to scoot closer to Anna as he sauntered past their table. Although if his vibe didn't keep people away then his face could. It's not that he looked naturally menacing. It was more the scowl he wore paired with how tense he was. As if he was ready for someone to come up to him and say the wrong thing because he was itching to get into a fight. Daisy of course didn't know if he was this way all the time but as far as first impressions went; he was as intimidating as she heard he was.

She vaguely noticed her friends give him a passing glance before going back to their conversation. She knew that she should have done a better job at trying to tune into what they were saying. Daisy's eyes flickered to her friend Lilly who was going on about how much of a difficult time she had in the math class that they both had for second class. She remembered that the teacher did hand out a quiz none of them expected that covered material from the past few homework assignments. Daisy thought she did decent on the quiz while Lilly was convinced that she failed. Lilly always thought she failed yet continued to hold no lower than a B average in every class. Daisy was nodding her head slowly to make it seem like she was listening. She smiled over at Lilly when their eyes made contact to further show that she was invested in what she was saying. None of them seemed to see how transparent she was as her eyes flicked back to Dallas. He'd sat himself two tables ahead of where she was sitting. He was sitting on the seat that faced her direction; making it easy for her to see him. She watched him as he talked to the two boys he was sitting with. One of whom he kept slapping on the shoulder; looking visibly more relaxed than he had when he first entered . The boy seemed only a little uncomfortable; he looked more amused as to what Dallas was saying that he barely noticed him repeatedly hitting him.

It was hard for Daisy not to realize how much of her attention she was giving him without anyone else noticing the same. As soon as he walked in through the door, her eyes were glued to him for some reason or another. The first one being that before that day she'd never seen the other teenager. She would on occasion wonder what he looked like when people talked about him since all they talked about was his tempter and bad attitude. She'd hadn't heard someone mention how attractive he actually was. They only ever mentioned how mean he appeared. So while they gave her a visual, it was nothing compared to actually seeing him. His hair looked like it didn't have one bit of grease in it. Although it was longer than most of the guys she knew. It wasn't combed back. It fell onto his forehead, a little above his eyes. She couldn't see what the back looked like but she could see how well kept it was for a greaser. She could have guessed that he cared about his hair but it was possible that was how it grew naturally. From where she was sitting, she couldn't see his eyes clearly. All she knew was that they were somewhat dark. His features were pretty defined. She could see that much, from his jawline to his cheekbones. What daisy noticed the most how confident he was. When he was walking and while he was sitting. She saw how he didn't doubt himself. He walked with his head high, he sat straight so sure of himself. She partly wished she could be so confident in herself the way he was. It made her a little jealous.

For how long she sat there with her eyes on him, she was lucky enough not to have some person yet realize who she was giving her undivided attention to. Not even Dallas himself, as he was so immersed in his conversation with the boys he was with. Something she was thankful for. She didn't think she could keep her face from turning a bright shade of pink from embarrassment if he caught her and decided to say something. Nor would she be able to explain to her friends why she was staring at him as intently as she was. Mostly because she wasn't sure she could put it into words herself. Dallas just seemed to draw her attention naturally from the second she laid her hazel eyes on him and she wasn't sure why. It wasn't like she'd spoken a word to him. It wasn't like they'd seen each other anywhere before, wasn't like he would ever talk to her without feeling some resentment towards her. Daisy wasn't considered a Soc. She was just a middle classer who lived her life. But her best friend was a Soc and because of that most of the people she spent her time with were Soc's as well. A fact that she was sure someone who was considered a Greaser would be all too happy to point out. If not to mock her for it. She didn't have one reason under the sun to be staring at Dallas the way she was. She couldn't understand herself at that moment. Tried as she did to zone back in with her companions, she couldn't. What they were saying was simply background noise.

Daisy knew she had to distract herself some way because eventually someone was going to notice her. Without thinking too much on it her eyes landed on the empty paper cup in front of her and she reached out to take it.

"I'm going to get another coke." She mumbled to her group. She didn't hang around long enough for her to hear Anna ask her to grab one for her as well. She stood from her table, smoothing out the bottom of her pastel blue dress and turned to around to make her way to the counter.

Most of the afternoon rush had cleared out; moving on to better things after stopping by. So the front counter where the cash register was clear. She placed a sweet smile on her face as she approached the counter. The lady there was only a little older than her. Probably in her early twenties, looking bored as she chewed on a piece of gum. Daisy could only see that she would have been anywhere else than working at the moment. She figured she would have felt the same if she had to help the types of teenagers that walked into the establishment. Which was why Daisy didn't make a face when the girl who's name tag read "Beth." Didn't say a word to her when she asked to purchase another coke. She watched the girl roll her eyes and grab a new cup in silence. The encounter made her feel a little awkward. As if Daisy was inconveniencing her more than she should even if she was being as nice as possible.

"Thank you." Daisy said as soon as her coke was placed on the counter in front of her. She placed the money for it on the counter near the cup. "Have a nice day." She added as an after thought. All the sweetness from her voice was gone and she wiped the smile off her face. Daisy tried her best to be polite to people and it got on her nerves when other people didn't return the same courtesy.

She grabbed her old paper cup and threw it out into the nearest trash can before she turned to head back to her seat.

"Daisy!"

The dirty blonde haired girl turned her head to the side when she heard her name be called. Unsurprisingly she saw that the voice belonged to Daniel. A boy she shared a couple of classes with. They were friendly enough, sometimes they paired up to work on assignments together in class but they didn't have much in common. He was a true Soc. A boy who got off messing with people he thought were below him because he knew that nothing would happen to him. It made it hard for her to agree to spend time with him outside of school just for that reason. He was nice to her and her friends even if she herself had less money than his family. However she'd seen the way he treated other people and she didn't want to be around someone who could be so rude. Daisy could agree to it if they were the ones to start with him. She believed that people had to stand up for themselves if someone was being a jerk. But Daniel was usually the one to start it. She didn't find that cute. She actually found it rather annoying.

Daisy let a small ghost of a smile form on her face as she turned to approach the table he was sitting at with his friends. Even if he could annoy her at times, he was always nice to her. So she didn't have a reason to be rude to him. "Hi, Daniel." She said as she stopped right in front of him. She waved her free hand as a greeting to his companions. All of them smiled at her in return.

"Why don't you and your friends come sit with us?" Was the first thing he said to her when she approached. His eyes shifted to his friends who nodded in agreement.

Daisy shuffled her feet as she kept the smile on her face. She couldn't come up with a reason as to why she shouldn't join them so she gave him a small shrug and a nod of her head.

"Sure." She replied; sounding more enthusiastic than she felt. "I'll go tell 'em to come over."

Daisy didn't say anything else to the boys as she turned to head back to the table she was just sitting at. Wondering if her friends even noticed her talking to Daniel. Lilly was fairly good friends with Daniel both in and out of school. She knew her older brother hung out with him from time to time. She probably wouldn't mind sitting with him. Daisy suspected that Lilly might have a crush on Daniel though she didn't mention anything to herself or Anna who were her closest friends. So maybe it was just Daisy misreading the situation.

Daisy inhaled a sharp breath the second she felt ice cold Coke spill all over the front of her dress. She must not have been paying as much attention as much as she thought she was. Seeing as she hadn't notice that someone was walking towards her until her pop was not only on her but the other person as well.

"Oh." Daisy gasped, feeling the Coke begin to soak into the fabric." "I-I am so, so sorry." She managed to get out. "Oh my god." While she was getting over the shock of the cold pop, she was more concerned about the person she ran into. They would have been equally as soaked with the exception of their arm. The Coke managed to get almost to Daisy's shoulder. She guessed it was from how hard she ran into the person.

She was absolutely terrified to look at the person. If it was their fault she could easily look at them and tell them that this was their fault. But in this case it was all her fault. She hadn't been paying attention. She'd been talking to someone and she was the one holding the nearly full cup of pop. She had no one else to blame but herself. What made it worse was that the place was crowded so she embarrassed both of them in front of a bunch of people. As if she needed to give people a reason to gossip about her. She knew that she had to face the person. They hadn't moved since she took a step back to let the Coke drip onto the floor. Another problem she had to deal with. She knew that Beth girl would be none to happy to see it was her that caused the mess.

She took another breath before setting the cup down on a nearby table that had been recently abandoned. She could feel the coke beginning to dry on her hand, making her more uncomfortable because she couldn't wash them. Knowing she couldn't avoid it any longer she allowed her eyes to slowly move up the person in front of her.

Daisy took notice of the fact that the person was wearing a white shirt, which made it even worse. From what she could see, it looked like she walked into another teenager. A boy. Which made a lot of sense, since she was the one forced back by the impact. The guy just stayed put, where as another girl would have moved back as well and she'd probably had started freaking out on her by now. She hadn't heard a peep from this person. Nearly the entire front of his shirt was stained and Daisy felt more guilt crawl up her spine. It was as soon as her eyes landed his jawline did Daisy want to turn around and walk away without another would. It would only be her luck to literally run into the guy she'd been staring at since he walked into the joint. To top it off this guy was known for his tempter and she had no doubt that she was going to get an ear full when he finally did say something. She couldn't even blame him for it. She was saying a few things to herself. The only saving grace she had was the fact that the noise in the place did not die down. It wasn't silent the way she thought it would be. Which meant that people were too busy with their own stuff to pay attention to them.

The teenager opened her mouth to say something else but in the blink of an eye, Daniel was in front of her. Completely cutting off her view of Dallas; making her move to the side in order to see him. She looked up at Daniel only to see that he was stiff with a cold expression on his face. The opposite of how he looked not just a minute or so earlier. She briefly wondered what could have changed within the last sixty seconds and then it hit her. Her eyes shifted and remembered that Dallas was someone Daniel started trouble with for fun.

"Watch where you're going, Greaser." He spat the word Greaser as if it was the worst thing he could call another human being. She supposed in his world, it was.

Daisy side stepped Daniel and attempted to put some space in between the two because even though Dallas hadn't replied to him yet, he did take a step closer to the other teenager.

"Daniel, stop. It was my fault." She said; looking up at her friend who gave her a passing glace. She had a feeling that this wasn't even about her. This was a just a reason for him and his buddies to start in on him.

She saw Dallas eyes flicker towards her as his mouth formed a smirk. Though she could see in his eyes that he was more than a little annoyed. If not with her than with the other person that decided to get into his personal space.

She heard him scoff as he finally said something. "Looks like it's your broad that needs to watch where she's going." Daisy could feel her cheeks heat up at his remark. Not for him assuming she was Daniel's broad but because of his voice itself. His voice sent a small shiver up her spine and she had to wonder if something was wrong with her for letting this stranger have such an effect on her. She was sure that if she had left the Dingo earlier she could have left without thinking about Dallas again. Now she wasn't sure it would be that easy.

She was taken by surprise when she heard him laugh. A genuine laugh like entire thing was hilarious to him and it probably was. She was sure he'd dealt with worse before if his reputation had anything to say about it. "This was my favorite shirt too. What am I suppose to do now?"

Daisy knew he was being sarcastic. Daniel knew he was being sarcastic and while she had half a mind to laugh because of how awkward she felt. Daniel's face told her that she shouldn't because he looked genuinely pissed for some odd reason.

"Too poor to get another shirt? No wonder you all always look so ratty." Daniel replied placing a malicious smile on his face. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him take a step forward and took a piece of Dallas shirt between his fingers while placing a disgusted look on his face. She could also see the instant change in Dallas face as the smile was gone. He was tense now, his eyes focused on the Soc in front of him. If looks could kill. She didn't have enough time to process him shoving Daniel away from him.

Daniel himself was caught off guard and stumbled a bit trying regain his balance. Before he was able to, Daisy stepped in front of him and put a hand on his chest. "Stop."

For the first time, she noticed that Dallas friends from the table were behind him and from the looks of it they wanted no part of the situation either. "Come on, Dally. Let's just go." Some boy with fairly tan skin and jet black hair said. She recognized him enough to know that he went to the same school. They were in the same grade although they didn't have any classes together. She couldn't remember his name. The other boy next to him also went to her school, she couldn't remember his name either. Just that he was younger than her yet they shared the same English class

None of them were able to get another word in before red lipstick wearing, gum chewing Beth walked up to them with a towel in hand, clearly more irritated than she was before. She stopped before the group of teens and placed one hand on her hip and used her other hand to point towards the door. "Take it outside." Was all she said before shoving in between all of them to start cleaning up the mess.

Daniel was the first one out the door with his friends right behind him. She knew that he was probably peeved that Dallas was able throw him off balance. Probably made him look bad in front of his friends. But he had no business getting in Dallas face like that. Daisy thought he should have stayed in his seat. He didn't need to cause a scene.

Dallas and his friends were the next to brush pass her without another word. She noticed that her classmate gave her a sheepish look as he was behind the other two. Though he didn't say anything, him acknowledging her made her feel a little better about the situation. When she saw all of them walk out she knew that was pretty much the end of it. She saw Daniel and his friends leave in a car. Meaning that they were no longer around and there would be no more trouble once the other boys got outside. Now she was free to go home and change her dress; clean herself up as she'd momentarily forgotten how sticky she was and that she looked a mess. Once she got home she could leave this moment in the past. One day soon she would laugh this whole thing off as accidents happen all the time and this was another one for the books. It was no big deal.

Although as she stood there for an extra second, watching Dallas and his friends walk along the sidewalk; she somehow felt like she couldn't let him leave without a proper apology. Those guys were probably used to getting treated like trash because of who they were. If she were someone else, they probably wouldn't have apologized at all. They would have done exactly what Daniel did and blamed him. Probably why he laughed earlier. He didn't think she meant the apology at all. She wasn't sure why that bothered her so much. Those boys were strangers. They were no one to her. She didn't talk to any of them, never even seen Dallas before. For some she just knew that she had to try to say sorry to them just one more time and after that she could let it be.

She turned to Anna who was staring at her, confusion written all over her face. Daisy smiled and mouthed " _Be right back_." Her best friend just nodded. She didn't doubt that she would be questioned once they were both back at Daisy's house.

Glad that Anna didn't stop her, Daisy left the Dingo. She broke out into a light jog just to catch up to the three boys who were able to walk pretty fast. Once she was close enough to them, she slowed down to a walking speed.

"Hey." She called out to them. The tan one with the black hair had fallen back and was looking towards the sidewalk when said something. He was the first one to stop and turn towards her. She could see his eyebrow raise in question at her but he didn't say anything. He just looked at her and waited for her to say anything else. Once the other two took note that their friend was no longer behind them, they stopped mid step and turned to look for him. As their eyes landed on her, they all had the same questioning glance. Of course her eyes landed on Dallas last and she saw his expression change to a blank one. Instead focusing his attention on lighting the cigarette between his lips.

"I really am sorry about the Coke. I should've been paying more attention." She shuffled her feet nervously. "I'm also sorry about Daniel. He's a jerk who likes to get a rise out of people any chance he gets." She saw Dallas turn his attention back to her, his expression still unreadable Though she did notice that her classmate was giving her a little smile as if he was pleasantly surprised by her.

She took a step closer to the boys. "I can help you clean the shirt or replace it or something. It really was an accident." She couldn't help but gesture to her own dress, somehow trying to convey that if it was on purpose she wouldn't have gotten it all over herself as well. There was a small silence that followed. None of the three boys responded to her and she had half a mind to leave. What mattered to her was that she was able to apologize and that they listened to her. Them believing her or not was a different story and it seemed like she wasn't going to be able to get anything out of them. Anna was waiting for her and she was itching to change her clothes already. She was sure that the stain on her dress was going to be hell to get out and she sure hoped it would come out. She loved the dress she had on.

Daisy wasn't sure how long she'd been standing there but it felt like a long time. Her eyes went from Her classmate to his friend and then over to Dallas. She kept her gaze on that particular teenager longer than the others. Strangely enough she didn't feel as embarrassed as she did before looking at him. Granted this time he knew she was staring at him and to her surprise, he was staring right back at her. It might have been with the same blank expression that he had on before but she thought it was a lot better than the angry one he had on when he first laid eyes on her. After letting another breath pass in silence, she broke her gaze with the guy. She ran one of her hands through her dirty blonde hair to get it out of her face before giving a small shrug. She didn't know what to say to make it less awkward before leaving so she opted for not saying anything at all. She nodded at the three of them and turned on her heel to go back to Anna

"Don't worry about it, Doll face." She heard Dallas say as she began walking away. Which prompted her to stop mid step and turn her head to get a glimpse at him.

"Got another one just like it." He added; popping his collar with a smirk on his face.

Daisy let a smile form on her lips when she saw his lips curve upwards. Only this time he didn't look angry at all. Just amused.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "But that one's your favorite. Right?"

Dallas didn't say anything to her. He simply winked before taking a drag of his cigarette and turning away from her to begin walking again.

She shook her head at his back then turned to his friends. They both had their own smiles on their lips as she chuckled about something to themselves. "See you guys in school tomorrow." She said to both of them. She gave them a wave of her hand as she set off back to Anna.

That day, Daisy couldn't know what would come of an encounter so small. Couldn't know that Dallas Winston and his friends would become such a significant part of her life. Couldn't know that he would change everything for her. Good and bad.

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 **A/N: Feel free to let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm two days late in uploading this. I got a little distracted with the new Power Rangers movie and getting ready for this vacation I'm going on. I'm going to try to upload before I leave or while I'm there but I apologize in advance if that's not possible for me. I also forgot to mention last time that the story may seem like it's getting a slow start. That's because I want to introduce my character properly. I don't expect the chapters to be as long as the first few but we won't know that until later on.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders or it's characters.**

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About three weeks after the Dingo, Daisy was sitting in English class reading a copy of "A Separate Peace" when a voiced startled her and broke her concentration.

"Good book?"

Daisy jumped in her seat as she looked to the left of her when her voice came from. Surprisingly, she set her eyes on Ponyboy Curtis. She had recently learned his name only because she'd payed attention at the beginning of the class some time the week before while the teacher was taking attendance. Her and Ponyboy hadn't talked much or at all since that day. They had no reason to. They didn't share any other classes or the same social circle. In fact, Daisy took note that they even sat on opposite sides of the classroom from each other. However they did from time to time exchange a friendly smile or wave. When they saw each other in the hallway or the lunchroom, they would share a look that held a mutual understanding. There was no conflict between them. Something that she was thankful for. Before she hadn't realized or cared that there may have been some issue between her and her fellow classmate just because of their minor difference in social class and very big difference in their friend group. It was reassuring to see that it wasn't the case

Even so, she didn't expect him to come up to her. Though she let a smile grace her face either way. She looked at the book she was reading and at how little ways she was in the book. "I'll let you know when I get farther into the book. I have high hopes." She gave a shrug while the other teen just nodded his head in understanding. "A big reader?" She questioned.

Daisy wasn't a big reader all the time. It took a lot to get her interested in a book enough to sit down and read it on her free time. Mostly because she was always more interested in being outside with her friends just enjoying the fresh air. She couldn't sit still for too long. Another reason she needed at least one friend to sit with her as she did her homework each day. She did recall being late on assignments a couple of times and the talks she'd had to have with her teachers in result. The last couple of weeks when she saw Ponyboy, more often than not he did have a book in his hand. He was quieter than she originally thought he was so it was possible that he was a fan of reading. If he was then she would give him credit. She just had too much energy.

"You could say that." He replied with a smirk on his face. She figured it was an understatement by the way he said it.

Daisy was going to ask him what type of books he was interested in when the bell rang signaling that it was time for the class to begin. "I'll talk to you later." He said as he stood from the seat he was in and went is own seat.

From the entire time that class went on, Daisy and Ponyboy would occasionally exchange glances. The first time it was because she was bored listening to the teacher and she'd tuned out. He hadn't been saying anything too important and if he was she knew that the notes he was writing on the chalkboard would give her an idea of what he was saying. So, she glanced around the classroom to see if anyone else was paying attention. Some of the kids were listening to the older man talk while the majority of them seemed just as uninterested in the topic as she was. Lucky for them he wasn't calling on anyone to answer any questions. She was mid yawn when her eyes landed on the youngest student in the class. He was sitting back in his seat, with his arms crossed, his face void of any type of emotion. He must have been just as zoned out as she was but when her eyes landed om him he seemed to sense it. He turned to her the same second she saw him. Like usual it was as If they had exchanged a silent agreement that they were both bored out of their minds and they wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

After that, when their eyes met each other they said the same thing. They didn't understand what he was talking about. If one of them looked at the time clock it was because they were both wondering why time was going by so slowly. They wished he would stop speaking. When he did and they had to do their worksheets, it would be that they regretted not paying attention because they were lost. Even the board didn't help them and they both decided that they screwed up. Then they laughed silently because they weren't the only ones. They saw the same kind of distress on the other students faces. They were all on the same boat. At least they got a kick out of it. At the end of it all, they finally began to do their work. She thought it would be better for their grades if they stopped distracting one another. Still, it felt good to have someone to goof around with in the class. She had a friend or two in the class but they didn't sit near each other. The entire class was pretty spread out. The teacher sat them randomly and then decided that it was their assigned seats. She sat in the middle of the class and wasn't able to get a good view of the few friends she had. But Pony boy was next to her. Only he was about two rows over. Regardless he was easy to see from where she was.

Once the class was over, Daisy packed up her stuff quickly and headed out the door. She wanted to catch up to Ponyboy who walked rather fast. Too fast for her to walk at a normal pace to reach him. She had made a last minute decision that she thought would be really good. Or really bad. She figured there was only one way to find out. When she did catch up to him he was with one of the friends she sometimes saw walk with him in the hallways. The guy had a red-ish tint to his hair and pretty decent sideburns. But what daisy found most interesting about him was that more often than not the guy wore a Mickey Mouse shirt. The shirts apparently came in a variety colors. She herself was a Mickey Mouse or rather Disney fan but she couldn't imagine expressing her love for the cartoon mouse so often. But it's what he liked and the shirts weirdly enough suited him.

"Ponyboy." She said as she came up beside him.

"Yeah?" He sure did look surprised to notice that she was the one who called him when he slowed his pace. From beside him, Daisy could see his friend raise an eyebrow at the girl.

"I'm going to the public library after school to catch up on the reading we have to do for class. Figured if you're not caught up either, we could partner up and do the reading together?" She clutched her books to her chest feeling a little awkward. She wasn't too sure why she asked him to join her. Probably because it would be nice to have another person to study with besides Anna and Lilly. They didn't always want to do their homework. A lot of the time they spent their hours after school gossiping or walking around the neighborhood. Some of the times they left their books at Daisy's house since it was a mid way point for the school and the Dingo. They didn't have to go too much out of their way. But when they weren't in the mood to study she was stuck fending for herself and they all knew she couldn't be trusted on her own. Getting good grades might not have seemed all that important but it was important enough for her parents to ground her if she got anything lower than a B in any class. It was worse when she got a call home from a teacher because of her lack of attention. Another person to study with could give her more options. It could also help her make a new friend. That was if he said yes. Because honestly he didn't have a reason to. She knew that but asking wouldn't hurt.

"I told Johnny I would hang with him after school, maybe talk him into doing his homework. Mind if I bring him along?"

Though Daisy didn't know who Johnny was, she really didn't mind if he came along. Always a great time to meet someone knew. From the people she saw Ponyboy hang around with at school, they didn't look all that bad. Rowdy, yes but there was nothing wrong with that. So she gave a shrug of her shoulders. "Sure. I don't care who comes along. I'll meet you at the public library after school." She smiled at him and his friend before walking over to her class. She knew that the bell was going to ring soon and she didn't want to be late for the next class.

Throughout the rest of the day, she saw the Curtis boy twice. Once in the lunchroom with his usual group of friends. They sat at opposite ends of the lunchroom too and she only got a glimpse of them as they all seemed to walk in at the same time. His friends were as loud as they usually were. He was in the middle of it, not really saying anything but laughing along to what was going on around him. Daisy supposed she was on the same boat as she walked next to Anna. Lilly was next to her and the boys were behind them talking among themselves. With them included Daniel, she wasn't as upset with him anymore. The only reason being that he took the time to apologize for his behavior the day after the Dingo. He explained to her that he supposedly had past issues with Dallas. He didn't go into them and she didn't ask because that wasn't important. Though he did promise her that he wasn't going to act like that when he was around her. He said he was going to do his best to keep his cool. Daisy didn't know if she trusted him to keep his word but she didn't hang out with him too much. When she did she was with the usual people and Daniel was fine when he was in school or with school friends. Problems only came up when he was with his sport buddies. All the jocks that believed that they could do whatever they wanted. Individually all of them were decent people. In a group it seemed like they brought out the worst in each other. Or at least that's what she saw. She never asked Anna or Lilly if they noticed the same thing. If they did they also didn't say anything to her. Either way, her and Daniel were good and they were able to move on from the situation.

After school, Daisy went straight for the library. The two hadn't decided on a time to meet. Only that it was some time after school. Even if him and his friend showed up later, it didn't matter to her. She would start on the reading for her class or more realistically; she would continue to read the book she had in school while the boys showed up. The walk to the place wasn't long, it was only a block or two away from the school. And one of the reasons she wanted to go as soon as possible was because whenever she went there, it was extremely crowded with students from her school that went there the same time she did. The little tables that they had near the back of the library would be taken fairly quickly. More often than not, some students just sat with their backs to the book shelves on the floor and their school books in front of them. She didn't mind doing that if she had to. When she did get there, most of the kids hadn't arrived yet. There were only a few scattered adults either reading or browsing the shelves. She was lucky enough to find a table to sit at in the back. She set the books she'd brought down on one of the sides of the table; not wanting to take up the entire space knowing she would be joined by the boys at some point. Then she sat down and got back into "A separate Peace".

Daisy didn't know how long she was able to read; Judging by the clock on the wall it was a little over thirty minutes before a couple of voices broke her concentration.

"Why are we here?" She heard someone say.

"I told you, man. Pony said he was gonna to help me with my schoolwork."

"No one asked you to tag along, Dal."

"Does it look like I give a damn?"

Daisy closed her book as she was sure she recognized at least one of the voices speaking. Even over the chorus of shush that could be heard in waves as they seemed to get closer to her. She glanced towards the direction the voices were coming. Sure enough she saw ponyboy walk ahead of the other two boys with his own books in hand. He gave a small smile when he noticed the teenage girl and she smiled back as she waved him over. Just behind Ponyboy, she could see the boy from a few weeks back which she now knew was named johnny. As soon as he saw her, she saw that he also recognized her. She didn't doubt that Ponyboy told him that they would be with someone else. He wondered if he told him who they were going to be with. Either way he didn't seem too surprised to see her so she supposed that was a good thing.

Daisy, however was extremely surprised to see their other companion walk up to her table. Of course it would be none other than Dallas Winston walking right next to Johnny. As easy going as he was the last time she saw him. He was wearing a plain gray shirt and a pair of blue jeans with some boots. She'd only seen him a total of two times. The first time she thought he looked attractive but as she got a better look at him, she was sure she hadn't seen someone as cute as him before. She knew cute really wouldn't cut it but it was hard to describe how he looked to her. She could almost say that she hadn't been attracted to a person this much so soon before. Then the more she thought about it; Daisy was sure of it. She blinked with surprise as their eyes met. Even though his eyes held no kind of emotion in them, his lips turned upwards just slightly. She attempted to keep her expression neutral but she could feel her lips quirk upwards as he approached the table. While she didn't know that he was going to be with them, she didn't mind all that much. He was nice to look at.

"Daisy, this is Johnny." Ponyboy said once they both sat down. Ponyboy and Johnny sat across from her. Dallas sat diagonally from her, the only thing on the table in front of him were his boots that he had propped up. None of them said anything as none of them really cared as long as he didn't bother them while they studied though they would see if that were even possible for him.

"It's nice to meet you, Johnny. Officially."

"It's nice to meet you too, Daisy."

"And that's Dally."

Daisy nodded to him while he just stared at her. Not that she expected a lot from him either way.

Once they began studying, Daisy half wished that Dallas hadn't showed up with the boys. Not because he distracted her just by being there but because he was actually distracting to all of them. It was clear that he didn't want to be inside the library. As soon as they all began to focus, Dally began trying to pull her attention to him. First, he asked how long they were going to stay. Not one of them could give him an answer. After that he had gotten up to look through the books; eventually picking a random one off the shelf. After sitting back down he flipped through the pages without reading any of the words. Daisy didn't think it was possible to read or flip through a book loudly. Clearly she was wrong as each page that Dally turned was loud enough to have them look at him with annoyance in their gaze. Ponyboy at one point reminded him that he didn't need to be there in the first place. To which Dally replied that he had nothing better to do except watch paint dry. She didn't doubt that he might have found that a little more entertaining than sitting in the library. But the final thing that got on her nerve was one of the pencils he stole from Johnny. A pencil he used to tap against the table nonstop. Daisy was able to ignore nearly everything that Dally had done so far but she wasn't able to ignore the tapping. She could handle silence and she could handle constant noise. But silence interrupted by noise made it almost impossible to study.

The tapping went on for about three minutes. When she looked around the table she could see that neither of the boys were doing their work. But they didn't seem too bothered, maybe it was just her. Because she could see that the two were too lost in a conversation to notice much. Without thinking about what she was doing, Daisy's hand slammed down on top of the pencil in Dally's hand. The sound was loud and echoed before all was quiet again. Her hand stayed on top of the pencil, her fingers brushing against Dally's as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm trying to finish my work. I'm trying to keep my teachers from phoning my folks one more time. I'm trying to get my grades up. Stop the damn tapping." She said lowly enough to not disturb anyone else but loud enough for their table to hear. She knew she had the attention of the other boys as well. Not that she wanted it but she was annoyed and Daisy didn't stay quiet when she was. "Unless you want to explain to my momma why I still got a C in my class."

Dally didn't seem bothered at all. If anything he looked amused by her. She could tell by the way his eyebrows twitched. "Mom's love me." Was his only response, insinuating that he would have no problem speaking with her mother. He leaned back in his chair as quiet as ever; placing his hands behind his head with his little smirk on his face. She tried not to let that smirk effect her.

Daisy's eyes shifted to the other boys They both looked equally as surprised by her little outburst. Ponyboy even chucked quietly. Though she was relieved that after her comments, Dally kept his disruptions to a minimum. She was able to get the reading and a little more homework done like she hoped she would. Though she did let the time get away from her because when she looked up at the clock it was nearly half past five. Surprised at how late it was, she closed her books and made a move to stand.

"I gotta go." She said quietly. On a school night she was supposed to be in the house by six thirty and at the very latest; before the street lights come on. They only made exceptions if she had a valid reason to be out late on a school night. She tested her parents a few months back with her curfew and it was not pretty. Not only did they throw a fit that she had to listen to for a good twenty minutes. After she was told that she was grounded for the next two weeks. During that grounding she had to be home right after school and if she wasn't, her brother would be out to look for her. Something else she didn't want as her brother was fiercely protective of her and because of that he was hard on her. She also didn't have any phone privileges and no company. She had no one to talk to. She was not in the mood to test her parents again. It was a pain the first time, she was sure it would be worst the second time.

Johnny was the first one to stand from his seat. "We'll walk you home." He said as he looked a Ponyboy followed by Dally. Ponyboy didn't object and Dally didn't look like he cared either way.

"Oh, you don't have to. It's not a far walk." She objected. Her place was a twenty minute walk at most. She could easily make it before it got dark out and luckily the street lights were not on yet. She had another thirty or so minutes before they came on. She knew that she had enough time and she didn't want to bother them by having them go out of their way just to talk her home. She'd be well enough on her own.

"My brother'd give me two or three upside the head if he found out I let a girl walk home alone." Ponyboy chimed in as he gathered his materials.

Daisy had to smile at that one because it sounded like something her dad would do with her brother. The thought made her rethink refusing the walk home. If they had no issue making the trip then she could accept the offer without anymore of a hassle.

"Not sure how I can say no now." She laughed quietly. From the corner of her eye she could see Dally get out of his seat and she found herself wondering if he was going to join them. He hadn't said anything that would suggest either or. She didn't know if she would care if he came with them the way she didn't mind that he showed up at the library. If she were being completely honest with herself she kind of hoped he would join them. Of course she wasn't going to ask him to or ask him if he was going to.

Dally stood from his seat and shoved his hands in his pockets. He was the first one to make his way out of the building and naturally the other two boys followed closely behind. Daisy was the one to take the last spot behind them at least until they stepped through the double doors. That's when they all slowed to a stop and peered over at her; waiting for her to lead the way to her place. She walked up next to Dally and pointed in the direction they were going to walk in. Which led back to the school.

The walk with them wasn't too bad. They all talked here and there, either joking or just arguing. The boys were doing more of the latter; something she enjoyed listening to. She found them to be quite funny and enjoyable to be around. They were carefree when they were around each other and not studying. Even Dally lightened up when he was around his friends. Daisy could guess that once people got to know him that he wasn't as bad as most people made him out to be. But she also didn't doubt that he could be dangerous when you ticked him off. She'd only seen that look in his eye once so far, though she didn't have any interest in seeing it again. While they walked, she always kept pace with Dally. Even when she slowed down and fell behind a bit, she managed to catch up easily. At one point while they were waiting to cross the street, a car that was approaching the intersection was not only speeding but didn't even stop for the red light. Daisy hadn't noticed how close she was to possibly getting hit by the car until she felt Dally grab her by her upper arm and yank her; hard. She stumbled a bit while dropping a notebook. She ended up pressed against his side as he yelled after the car to slow the fuck down. Then he turned his attention to her, a crease between his brows and a scowl on his face.

"You shouldn't be standing in the middle of the damn street." He said before letting go of her arm and bending down to pick up the notebook that she dropped. While she was grateful for him pulling her out of the way. It didn't stop the glare she sent him at his tone he used on her. Even when Daisy knew she was in the wrong, she didn't like being talked down to by someone who was probably only a year or so older than her. But she kept her mouth shut, not wanting to get into an argument with him over something so small. Instead she attempted to get the notebook from him but he moved is hand out of the way. Then her other books were out of her arms before she could blink. Dallay held her books for the rest of the walk home. She could have asked him why he was doing it. She ended up deciding against it. Daisy also couldn't help but noticed from then on instead of walking on her left side, he walked on her right. The side that was closest to the road. This made her smile as it showed that she was right. Dallas Winston was not all bad.

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 **A/N: I hoped you all enjoyed the chapter. :)**


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